Chapter 6

By the time I reached the floor to her office, my legs had nearly given out; If it wasn't for the adrenaline and indignation running through my veins, I would've passed out half the way there.

"Mamá!" I exclaimed, barging into the room unaware and negligent of whether she was in a meeting.

"I'll call you later. Bye." She concluded before ending her phone call and shooting up from her desk chair. "Is this how you enter a room? What if I was in a meeting?!"

"You're working with Lawrence and his stupid company? How can you trust that man after all he did to us?" I yelled back.

"Calm down Nicole. I'll tell you but sit down." She stated.

"Answer my question, mamá." I breathed out.

"Okay I will, but sit down first."

And so I did, as I patiently waited for what she had to say to justify this. "So tell me, why are you working with that man and his company?- when you know what kind of a traitor he is."

"Because I have no other choice. There's a lot I haven't told you and I did it because I didn't want to worry you but I think it's time for you to know." There was a long pause before she spoke again. "This empire your dad worked so hard to build is crumbling down. Grimaldi Industries will come to an end if I don't accept this business deal with Lawrence."

I was speechless. How long had this been going on? How could I be so blind to not see that my own mother was struggling?

"Mamá, lo siento. I-I was so foolish. How could I be stupid enough to think that you'd ever willingly join hands with him." I said as I fisted my hands, nails digging into tender flesh.

"No sweetie. I purposely hid all this from you. It is not your fault" Mamá assured me, her hand over mine.

I sighed and smiled weakly at her. "Mamá, I may not say this as often as I should but, I love you so much and I am so sorry." I mumbled, wiping a tear away.

Mamá got up and walked towards me, arms outstretched. As soon as I embraced her, I felt at peace. The peace only a mother's celestial embrace could provide

One of my favourite things about Mamá was her scent. She didn't just smell like apples and spices; She smelled like the scent of comfort and reassurance. The scent of all happiness and strengths and oceans and storms. And it was heavenly. Mothers were truly an undeniable gift from above.

I breathed in her scent one last time before pulling away. "Mamá didn't you wanna discuss something with me?"

"Yeah, I wanted to talk about the deal. Sit down." She said as we both took a seat. "I'm not dumb. I know that Lawrence is the last person I should trust but right now the only option I have is to accept his deal." She enunciated.

"And what is this deal?" I asked.

"I won't use all the overly-complicated business terminology but if I sum it all up, its basically that Harrington Estates will help us gain our normal income back with this project we're doing. In return, they're asking for ten percent of the profit for the following three years." She stated, her fingers laced together.

"Ten percent? And for three years? Mamá, considering that this is a multibillionaire company, don't you think this is a bit too much?"

"Yeah it is. We get half the profit from this company- the rest is shared out between other departments and companies. We're going to have to take ten percent out of our own shares." She explained.

"It's okay, It's not going to make a major difference." I reassured her.

"Yeah, you're right."

"So have you accepted it yet?" I asked.

"No, I wanted to discuss it with you first."

"Well, as much as I despise Lawrence, I think you should accept. And you said it yourself- It's our only option."

"Lo sé (I know) but we still can't trust him. Trusting him again would be a great mistake we can't make." She said.

"And we won't." I added.

"Well, I've invited them to dinner tonight, to tell them about my decision."

"And let me guess. You want me to be there?" I asked.

"It'd be great if you could." She sighed.

"Of course. Its the least I could do." I answered. "We're eating Mexican, right?" I asked, my lips twisting to form an evil smirk.

"Obviously." She narrowed her eyes, matching my own wicked grin. Lawrence doesn't know what's awaiting him.

This was only one of the many components that made me and my mother so alike. We were both ruthless.

"See you later." I told her, getting up and leaving.